Educated at the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt Law School with attendance at additional programs at Oxford and Stanford University�s Graduate School of Business, Candice S. Cook Simmons is a business strategist at the intersection of technology, entertainment, legal, and corporate sectors. She is the Managing Partner at The Cook Law Group, PLLC, and the Co-Founder of Wrd Ventures � an accelerator that invests in businesses seeking pre-seed, seed level or series A funding. Wrd Ventures� Co-founder is Iqram Magdon Ismail � the Co-Founder of Venmo. Cook�s law firm has handled groundbreaking intellectual property matters � including the trademarking and strategy behind Dominique Ansel�s Cronut pastry � and business, entertainment, social impact/entrepreneurship, film, television, and talent issues for clients across the globe including Japan, China, Israel, Monaco, Mexico, France, U.S., UAE, and the UK. Her success resulted in her being honored as a Pearl Honoree in 2009, selected as a finalist for Atlanta�s Power 30 Under 30 Award, and a winner of the Celebration Award in Law in 2012. In 2013, she was selected as the Hollywood Power Player by Hollywood & Vine Magazine and in 2014 she was selected as the Barrier Breaker award recipient for her work in the field of law and for her vast hands-on philanthropic engagement addressing education, humanitarian matters, and social justice. She appeared in the HBO documentary �Good hair,� the 2009 winner for Special Jury Prize for U.S. documentary at the Sundance Film Festival as well as the documentary Sag Harbor on the OWN network. She has appeared in the American Bar Association Journal, Forbes, O Magazine, Elle Magazine, Essence Magazine, and on CBS, The Today Show and Sirius Radio. She was cited as one of the top interviews for the �Talentedly� platform of 2015 as well as one of the top-five podcast interviews for �Today�s Leading Women� and was the number 1 downloaded interview on the business podcast �Beyond The Business Suit.� In 2016 through 2019, she was selected as one of The National Black Lawyers Top 100 and was published in the book Unconditional � an anthology released with National Geographic. She was selected as one of the top global attorneys on the international stage, selected as an �Influential Woman� at the YWCA of the City of New York�s Potential to Power Symposium, included as one of America�s Top Lawyers, Who�s Who Among American Lawyers, selected as a Rising Star by Super Lawyer in 2018, and selected as one of the Top Women in Law (New York Metro) in 2019.